


Hits, or Near Misses

by windfallswest



Series: Woods and Waters Wild [9]
Category: Batman Beyond, DCU, Eastern Promises, Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-24
Updated: 2010-03-24
Packaged: 2017-10-27 12:25:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/295837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windfallswest/pseuds/windfallswest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The attempt is on Nikolai's life, but it's Terry's that's changed.</p><p>Gotham: Fall 3513</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hits, or Near Misses

**Author's Note:**

> Third in the Gotham arc of Wood and Waters Wild. Thanks also to my ever-lovely beta [](http://htebazytook.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://htebazytook.livejournal.com/)**htebazytook** , who always agrees to be party to my madness.

  
The sky, which was gloomy and murky during the day, was a macabre sort of bloody colour at night when all of Gotham's tiny lights winked to life and were reflected off the thick suspension of smog and cloud.

The city stood beneath it, its tallest buildings clustering so they seemed to jostle for the highest piece of ground. They were faraway black silhouettes this night, hovering above the lower buildings in the foreground and perceptible only through the irregular patterns of lighted windows. Only the bases of the buildings they passed brightened to Gotham's universal grey.

The night was already late, and the streets Nikolai's aircar navigated were empty. It came as quite a surprise, then, when Gareth shouted a warning and jerked the yoke around sharply.

An explosion rocked the car and set something wrong with the fans because the corner where Nikolai sat started dragging.

"Out, get out!" Gareth yelled. "Сверху!"

Nikolai, already reaching under his suit jacket for his gun, opened the door with his other hand and jumped.

Nikolai landed in a roll and came up on one knee, balancing himself with one hand. His guards—he was returning from a meeting, they were not quite back in Vor territory yet—had spilled out after him. Bors almost tripped and fell into the still-smoking crater now decorating Pace Street.

Something streaked brightly down the street. The sound of its impact was almost swallowed by the roar of the explosion. Nikolai saw Gareth throw himself from the air car. There was a low, ripping cry. Part of the fire followed Gareth away from the wreck.

The sharp, chattering staccato of automatic gunfire assaulted them from where Nikolai's eyes had retraced the rocket's path to its origin.

Nikolai ran, crouching as close to the ground as he could, for the cover of an alley. He darted a glance behind him to make sure the alley was clear, then set himself to locating the shooter.

Bors diverted himself when the gun opened up, to grab Gareth and help him limp to safety. Alan was still making for Nikolai's position, laying out a covering fire behind him.

Nikolai followed her aim to a roof across the street. No one so much as breathed. Still, one could guess. Nikolai took aim.

There was a third streak across the bloody sky, this one dark. Alan skidded, panting, into Nikolai's alley.

Something tumbled down onto the street, into the dancing light of the burning aircar, disgorging expletives, too large to be one man. There was a sharp crack, the snap of the gun going off again, and then a double flash was Batman launched himself up and out of the assassin's line of fire.

The assassin jerked and ceased firing abruptly as shots from two directions hammered into him.

Batman landed. There was silence, except for the crackling fire. There would be such an earful tomorrow.

Nikolai stood, motioned for Alan to stay put. Cautiously, he took a step away from cover.

Batman fixed on him immediately. As he strolled calmly nearer, Nikolai could read the sharp, furious tension in Batman's posture.

"Now, I wonder what all that was about."

Nikolai straightened his jacket and glanced at the bullet-riddled body.

" Обясьно, someone tried to have me killed. Thank you for your timely intervention."

"Save it," Batman snapped. "I'm watching you."

Comforting thought. "I should remind you, I have done nothing wrong."

With a last, flat look, Batman launched into flight. Nikolai watched him as he disappeared in the smoggy maze of high-rises.

"Sir?" Gareth asked. His guards had been gradually peeling themselves away from the shadows during his conversation with the Batman. There were sirens growing louder, no doubt drawn by the gunfire and the mildly flaming, twisted wreck that was his car.

Nikolai looked back down and made eye contact with them.

"We will give the police our statements," Nikolai said. It was self-defence. "There will be no trouble."

They nodded.

  
The hoarsely bleating klaxon of his alarm woke Terry. He glared at it. Shit, he didn't remember hitting snooze.

Terry groaned and levered himself out of bed. School sucked; why couldn't he just graduate already?

He stumbled through the shower and by that time was awake enough to make sure his shirt was on frontways before pausing in the kitchen long enough to snatch breakfast—he was already famished—on his way out the door.

On the train to school, Terry fell to thinking on last night's assassination attempt. He was still distracted when he got to school, absently keying open his locker and putting away his books.

"I can't believe you!"

Terry jumped near out of his skin. "Jesus fucking Buddha! You trying to give me heart-failure?"

Dana crossed her arms, face hard. "The Vor, Terry? What's _wrong_ with you?"

"Dana, I—"

"It's over, Terry. I'm done," she told him in a terrible certain, flat voice. She glared poison while he stood gaping like a stunned fish and then walked away.

"Dana, wait!" Terry shook himself out of his shock and caught her by the arm. Had she found out about Nikolai? How?

"I thought I _knew_ you," she hissed, and Terry was taken aback by the force of pain on her face when she rounded on him. He let go.

There were tears clouding the great, dark eyes she bore into him; and then she turned and left again. He started after her.

A hand held him back. "Пусть, McGinnis," Chelsea told him, regarding him with a chill kind of distain. "You're in serious stupid," she said and neatly left him standing there in the middle of the hallway, still with no clear idea of what had just happened.

There were other people in the hall, Terry realised belatedly; and they were all staring at him. He walked stiffly back to his locker. It took him five minutes to recognise his calculus textbook.

The bell rang and, numbly, he took it out, closed the locker, went to class.

 _Dana._ She refused to meet his eyes. How had she found out about him and Nikolai? She was—fuck of course she was mad, he'd explain, it wasn't—

What it looks like? a dry voice in the back of his mind pointed out. Terry felt a rush of blood to his cheeks and fixed his eyes on the board. Explain how, anyway? _I was co-ordinating operations against them, and oh, by the way, I'm Batman and Nikolai's a police infiltrator._ Yeah. Right.

"Veronica!"

Veronica stopped, regarded him warily.

"Aw, Veronica, don't tell me you're not talking to me, too," Terry said, panting a little from sprinting to catch up with her.

"What do you want, McGinnis?"

"Look, Veronica, I just wanna know what happened," he pleaded.

"You're the one who's been keeping secrets."

"You know what I mean; how'd she find out I was—"

Veronica sighed and gave him a wry look. "A gigantic piece of pond-scum? Well, it was all over the news this morning that someone tried to off Luzhin last night. Some other lowlifes who hang around in those areas said you've been in and out of Vor territory for months now."

"But—" Terry protested. They hadn't _seen_ anything, they didn't _know_ —

"C'mon, Terry. Bruises? Always running off at weird hours? What else is it gonna be? You're in with Вором в законе."

Terry closed his mouth on his protest, now completely forgotten.

"No I'm not!" he burst out, still in shock. "I'm—"

"You're what, Terry?" Veronica asked him.

He sighed. "Never mind. Thanks, Veronica."

"Forget it," she told him. "Really."

The news ran through school like wildfire. Terry got through the day, somehow. People kept _looking_ at him and whispering. He didn't remember it being this annoying when he was actually a delinquent. People he knew looked nervous and tended to switch directions abruptly when they saw him coming. Fucking _damn_ it.

"Fuck _off_ ," Terry said for the fifth time since lunch. Only 混蛋 would talk to him were the lowest class of skeeze, who kept slinking up hopefully. Slamming his locker closed, Terry all but ran into the parking lot.

Terry breathed a sigh of relief once he was out on the street. Escape, finally. He liked the anonymity of the city; standing quietly on the train home, he felt some of the furious tension leave his shoulders and back.

Home, long enough to grab his hoverbike, and then to the Manor. That was as far ahead as he could think right now. There were people shooting at Nikolai and some fucking new hothead сволочь bent on making his life interesting. At least, the radioactive residue he'd found all over that smashed warehouse by the docks didn't seem Drusilla's style. He didn't have _time_ for this high-school bullshit.

The thunderous noise made by the gargantuan manor door when Terry slammed it only grated on his already raw nerves. Wayne was waiting for him in the cave.

"Has my house done something to offend you lately?" he asked.

"My life is _fucked_ ," Terry told him. "I got seen."

He instantly felt the weight of Wayne's undivided attention.

"Not Batman," Terry corrected impatiently. " _Me._ My whole school thinks I joined Nikolai's fucking gang."

"You knew it was a risk."

 _I told you so._ Yeah, right. Terry shot a poisonous look at Wayne's imperturbable superiority and resisted the uge to punch him in the face.

"I should've been more careful."

"Probably."

"— _dammit_ , what'm I gonna tell mom? She's—fuck, she thinks this shit killed my dad."

Terry pressed in on his temples with the heels of his hands.

"We have bigger problems than just your mother. You need a story to cover your activities that the rest of the world will believe. Even if you decide to stop this now."

"No." Terry looked up. "He has a line on Powers."

"Then our options are limited. You're not joining."

"No."

Wayne let the other option hang significantly in the air.

Terry refused to be squashed under the weight of his assessment. Everything was always a fucking test.

"So I go how I've been going, just opener. 真好. Thanks. You're an enormous help." He was on his feet again and pacing.

"This changes things."

"Damn, you _think?_ "

"People will treat you differently. Not just your friends—your teachers, your family. And you still can't afford to ignore mob politics."

"I don't suppose there's any way I can keep my mother from finding out I'm screwing the biggest mob boss in the city." Well, if _Wayne_ hadn't known, he knew now.

If it _was_ news, the old man didn't bat an eye.

"Don't panic. Rumours like this take a while to sort themselves out, especially if no one goes out of his way to clarify them."

"So what, I just let them say whatever they want about me?"

Wanyne shrugged. "There's no point in exciting them more. People have been gossiping about me for seventy-five years. I've found ignoring it to generally be the safest course of action."

"That's easy for you to say! Nobody was depending you! You weren't going to get kicked out on the street! You were on your own; your parents were dead. Bruce Wayne was just a costume you waved in front of the cameras to keep them distracted!"

Terry realised in the cavernous silence which followed that he'd made a mistake. _Big-time._

Wayne didn't get up. He didn't move. Terry figured he was about two breaths away from a world of excruciating death. He was sure he wasn't supposed to recognise the look in those eyes.

"You made your own choices, McGinnis. Against my better judgement. When you make a sacrifice, sometimes you actually lose something."

"好. What the fuck ever."

Terry walked out, stomping up the treads carved into the mansion's solid granite foundations like he could make them collapse behind him by sheer force of anger.

  
Nikolai looked up before the door shot open, alerted by the furious rap of footsteps in the hall outside. He put a prudent hand to his gun. There were no shouts of altercation, so either something was terribly wrong, or...

Terry burst into the study, flinging the double door open so violently it bounced off the wall. He smacked it shut impatiently.

"We're going to need some ground rules," he launched in, looking wild murder. No wonder his security had cleared aside.

"First. My family is off-limits. I want that understood very thoroughly, 懂嗎?"

He finally succeeded in catching Nikolai's eyes. Что-то произходило.

"Понял." Nikolai turned and gave him his full attention.

"Second, I'm not carrying messages. I'm not getting involved in this shit. If someone wants to tell you something, they can carve it on a flash-head like the rest of the creeps.

"I don't want any favours. 我不要 一些的 contact with the rest of your _friends._ "

"You still want to see me, however?" Nikolai asked as mildly as he could.

Terry stepped into his personal space, reminding Nikolai that he was taller even without the ears and jet boots.

"I want it to be очень гластно to everyone that there is exactly one reason we see each other," Terry all but growled.

There was all of an inch of highly charged air between them. It was not difficult to see Terry shaking. Nikolai made an effort to collect his scattered wits. He took a step away from temptation.

"Would you like something to drink? 坐上. Tell me what has happened."

Terry grabbed him by the arm.

"好啊. Is good. Now, 你有什麼事嗎?"

Terry relented, but did not visibly relax. Nikolai reclaimed his arm.

"Someone noticed how much I've been hanging around here. It's all over school. So far they're guessing wrong, but they'll get there eventually. And then so will everyone else."

Nikolai considered. "You should tell your mother. Is not good for her to find out these things other ways. You introduce us, and I will explain things."

"Absolutely not. _You_ stay the fuck away from my family, too."

Nikolai had never seen him like this. He had not the best feeling about it.

"No one will hurt them. I have already made sure," he reassured.

Terry shot him a sharp look.

"The world is bigger than high school. Other people watch me much more closely. Or мне нужно сказать тебе о вчери вечером?"

Glare.

"As you like." Nikolai turned back to the sidebar. A drink, perhaps, would slow Terry down enough to prevent him doing something stupid. "Hy, why don't—" He looked up to find Terry had vanished. Конечно.

Nikolai set the bottle down and picked up the glass. _He_ could use a drink, правилно.

______  
[1] Сверху—sverhu; Up there!  
[2] Обясьно—objasno; obviously  
[3] Пусть—pust'; Leave it  
[4] Вором в законе—Vorom v zakonje; Thieves in Law (more accurately, thieves by code; the Vor)  
[5] 混蛋—hundan; bastard  
[6] сволочь—svoloch'; bastard  
[7] 真好—zhen hao; Excellent  
[8] 好—good  
[9] 懂嗎—dong ma; understood?  
[10] Понял—ponjal; Understood  
[11] 我不要 一些的—wo bu yao yi xie de; I won't have any  
[12] очень гластно—ochen glastno; very clear  
[13] 坐上—zuo shang; Sit down  
14] 好啊—hao a; Okay  
[15] 你有什麼事嗎—ni you shenme shi ma?; Is something wrong?  
[16] мне нужно сказать тебе о вчери вечером?—do I need to tell you about last night?  
[17] Hy—nu; Well  
[18] Конечно—konechno; Of course  
[19] правилно—pravilno; truly

I apologies for the ridiculous number of footnotes; my language geek ran away with me. It used to be worse, believe it or not.   



End file.
